Lil Wayne Finally Announces Release Date for ‘Tha Carter V’

After more than four years of stops and starts, Lil Wayne is ready to drop Tha Carter V. Today, he revealed that the long-awaited album will be released on the stroke of midnight as Thursday (Sept. 27), which is Weezy's 36th birthday, turns into Friday (Sept. 28)

He made the announcement in a three-minute video that he posted to YouTube, and is embedded below. In it, he gets out of a Hummer and walks through a series of hallways and rooms before arriving in a recording studio while breaking the news.

"I heard there was a misunderstanding about the release date of Tha C V," he said. "I would like for y'all to know that since y'all stuck with me and hung in there anyway for like the last four or five years, through all of this, y'all got me feeling like Tiger Woods with this comeback, y'know. On my birthday, I actually have something special. I will be releasing Tha Carter V on my birthday. ... Now, if you don't know when my birthday is, Wikipedia does. Wiki me, bish."

For the release, he created a website with a countdown clock that expires at the moment Tha Carter V comes out, the record's cover (which had been revealed back in August 2014) and a shop where it can be pre-ordered in various formats, which comes with access to pre-sale for tickets to next year's tour, along with other merchandise.

Lil Wayne first talked up Tha Carter V in March 2014, even putting out three singles, "Believe Me," "Grindin'" and "Krazy" over the next few months. But a dispute between him and Cash Money, which involved a $51 million lawsuit filed by Weezy, kept it on the shelf. A settlement was reached in June, where it was believed he received $10 million and his freedom from the label. With all that behind him, he thanked his fans for sticking with him throughout the lengthy ordeal.

"Every ounce of anything I have left in my heart, it goes to y'all," he added. "Honestly, my fans, the supporters, the world. Of course, it's God and family first, and I am nothing, absolutely nothing without my fans. ... With this album -- I always give you all of me -- but with this album, I'm giving you more than me."